kirk minihane

Media deserves blame in Tim Thomas saga

On June 15, 2011, Tim Thomas completed as dominant a postseason as any in the history of Boston sports with a shutout in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, carrying the Bruins to their first Cup in 39 years with four shutouts and a 1.98 playoff goals-against average.

It was, by every account, a terrific story. The Bruins had nine games in that postseason that were looked at as must win at the time. Games 3, 4 and 7 of the Montreal series, Games 5 and 7 of the Tampa series and Games 3, 4, 6 and 7 against the Canucks. Thomas won all eight and gave up a total of 10 goals in those games. Incredible stuff authored by one of the all-time underdog stories -- we all know the Thomas history. Raise your hand if you can recall any criticism of Thomas from the media during his astounding run.

So on June 15, 2011, Tim Thomas was, it seemed, forever an untouchable in the city of Boston. OK, he was a late bloomer - but didn't that make the story even better? - but he was the best goaltender on the planet, a Stanley Cup hero, an intriguing Hall of Fame candidate and the unquestioned Face of the Franchise.

And less than a year later he's a punchline. Tim Thomas isn't going to play for the Bruins next season - we think, though it was never actually written - for reasons that are still not exactly clear. Peter Chiarelli told the media on Friday that Thomas had mentioned family when asked why he was thinking about sitting out the 2012-13 season, and Thomas wrote on Sunday that family, faith and friends were his top three priorities, but with Thomas it's always muddled.

Maybe you've heard Thomas has some political opinions. Well, he added a couple of posts to his infamous Facebook page on Saturday night, both linking to stories predicting impending world financial disaster.

On its own who really cares? Tim Thomas gets paid to stop a puck for a living -- should it matter at all to you or me what he thinks about anything that isn't hockey related? But it was the eight words Thomas (or whoever it is that operates his Facebook page) wrote when linking to the first story - titled "Former Hedge Funder’s Fearful Forecast: We're Looking at 'The Biggest Economic Shock the World Has Ever Seen' & There's Nothing We Can Do to Stop It" - that brought attention:

"See why hockey's just not that important right now?"

And that's where the story turns, and Thomas gets branded as a complete maniac, a caricature of a tunnel-digging study in paranoia by a media that has some ammunition but also doesn't like the guy because he simply doesn't give them what they want. Over the last six months they haven't been able to really make anything stick against Thomas so they took the easy way out, which is to mock his political beliefs.

Was there any real outrage from the fan base when Thomas skipped the White House? Not really, but the media was pissed because Thomas never explained himself to them, just refused to talk about it. That is his right, of course - as it is his right to pass up an opportunity to meet a President if he doesn't want to, which is one of the things that makes this county great - but they didn't want to hear that.

Nope, it was faux outrage all the way - he's selfish, this'll destroy the team, everyone in the organization hates him (no player ever ripped Thomas on the record), he should have left his politics behind and joined his teammates, all that stuff. Does anyone really think Joel Ward doesn't score that goal if Thomas had put on a tie, smiled and shook hands with Barack Obama?

Easy story lines, I suppose, but you and I know the portrait would have been different if Thomas had made it easier for himself by directly telling the media - instead of using Facebook - why he skipped the White House and why he's probably taking this year off. But he had no interest in doing that and the folks writing and covering this team couldn't deal with it. And P.S., it doesn't help that his political leanings don't exactly fall in step with plenty of the folks writing about all this.

Is Tim Thomas "selfish?" Maybe, but this strikes me as a loose definition. I don't think he's the first guy in history to walk away while under contract, but I don't recall anyone blasting Dominik Hasek for caring only about himself when he took a year off in 2002. This is how it works when you sign a guy in his mid-to-late 30's to a long-term deal - there's a chance he's going to walk.

I've heard everything you have about Thomas - he's a Me First guy all the way. The problem with that argument is that we heard all that about Thomas last year. The guy on the ice at the end of Game 7 in Vancouver is the same guy ranting on Facebook and blowing off the President of the United States in his house because of a disagreement on what the role of government should be in our lives. Nothing has changed.

And to compare Thomas to Curt Schilling - as some have over the last couple of days using the fallen heroes angle - is lunacy. Schilling turned his back on his own beliefs, accepted government money (and begged for more) after years of claiming to be a fiscal conservative and it has had disastrous consequences for both Schilling and the state of Rhode Island. Agree or disagree with Thomas politically (and I think he's close to the truth on some issues but flirting with dangerous extremism on others), but at least he's stayed consistent. And does anyone remember the last time Tim Thomas called into a radio station and espoused on all things politics? That's the difference - Schilling has turned out to be a total fraud (and it's only getting worse) and Thomas, while perhaps further away from reality than Schilling, has conviction. He showed it by standing by his beliefs in January and maybe he's doing it again.

But that won't be anything close to consensus in these parts from the media, because Thomas is the best combination for a written beating: He's an easy target and he doesn't talk. You'll hear about contract ploys and bunkers in Colorado and Glenn Beck and individual vs. team and (gasp) stepping on the spoked B in the locker room. Maybe some of it will be fair and some of it won't - and I'm OK if you think the Bruins probably should just cut bait and hand the keys to Tuuka Rask - but understand it'll come with plenty of bias.

Tim Thomas was a hero a year ago, and a punchline today. Some of it is his fault, but the media has to take its share of the blame.

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